One aspect of American gun culture that I can say has always mystified me is the fact that we do have, what seems to be a relatively small yet vocal minority of people, who do like to walk out in public with their guns on full display seemingly just because they can.
I've been around guns since I was a teenager. I'm far from being the most socially aware person in the world. Still, the first time I walked into a restaurant in Tombstone with my gunshow group, I was hesitant being that my six shooter was displayed on my hip in plain sight. Of course, in that situation, I was literally the only person who was anxious about it. I mean, it's Tombstone, they have gun shows in the streets all time. I doubt it's ever happened that a dude dressed up like a cowboy and started firing real bullets at people.
Still, there is a certain awareness, whether or not you like it or agree with it, that we should have that a lot of people aren't comfortable around guns.
Now, one thing that I want to address before some attacks start is that this isn't me conceding a single damn point that the "Hang Kyle!" crowd has tried to raise insisting that Rittenhouse's presence with his rifle was a provocation in and of itself. First of all, that's not what the law says about provocation. Also, and this was brought up at trial rather explicitly, Rittenhouse had a better excuse to be carrying the AR-15 rather than a concealed handgun than any of the other people there with guns because Wisconsin law makes it illegal for a minor to be in possession of a handgun but not of a rifle.
Still, it always seemed to me that the whole point of being a gun owner who only intends to use the gun for defense and target shooting is to be incognito about it. You do want to blend in. If for no other reason, even if you are following the law and have no intent to hurt anyone, if you're displaying your guns or even just wearing paraphernalia and you do encounter a bad guy with a gun, you're telling the bad guy who he should shoot first.